Association

The Purpose of Our Association Meeting

May I again remind you of Mrs. Eddy’s purpose in establishing THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE STUDENTS’ ASSO CIATION as an activity in the Christian Science movement.

An association meeting is quite different from a lecture. A lecture presents Christian Science to an audience in all states and stages of growth; it is given both to the illumined and unillumined mind, while in an association the work is presented to class-taught students only, or to the enlightened and educated minds of Christian Scientists.

The intent of an Association Meeting is the furtherance of class instruction, and the elucidation of the deep metaphysics in the Bible, in our textbook, and in Mrs. Eddy’s other writings.

Each successive Association Meeting should keep pace with the advancement of the Christian Science Movement; or in other words, the students of the Association should keep abreast of the continuous rise in thought, which is the unfoldment of the revelation of divine Science in human consciousness. The work should be in the nature of instruction and enlightenment, and should be basic in its application to the problems of the hour.

So today we are here for a renewal or a revival in the truth of our being and for further spiritual education concerning our immortality. We cannot hear the words of Truth too often. If we have become dulled by reason of the

Addresses by Martha Wilcox pressing error of these times, the words of truth will cut through this mesmerism and reassure our thought as to the spiritual facts of being and the power of Mind.

The words of Truth are not mere repetitions, but are constant restatements.

“Our knowing the truth” is a continuous restatement of truth, clung to and trusted. And what does the word of truth do except demesmerize thought and bring to light man’s present immortality?

Unless life is becoming clearer and richer to us, we are not progressing as we should; and today I trust that we shall open our thought to a larger inpouring of the letter and the spirit of truth, so that we may free our thought from its belief in perishable mortality, and plant it more firmly in the fact of our immortality.

Present Events

We are very much aware that the whole world at this present time is going through an experience of great significance, equal to none other since the advent of Jesus. It is important in view of the severe chemicalization which is going on in the world today, that we as Christian Scientists understand what is occurring and through this understanding be “the light of the world, a city that cannot be hid.”

Mrs. Eddy says, “Science only can explain the incredible good and evil elements now coming to the surface”; and she adds, “Mortals must find refuge in Truth in order to escape the error of these latter days.” (S&H 83:6)

She also says, “The Science of Mind needs to be understood. Until it is understood, mortals are more or less deprived of Truth.” (S&H 490:12)

Christian Scientists must have a higher altitude of thought than the use of personal opinions as their weapons. Mrs. Eddy says, “Nothing is more antagonistic to

Christian Science than a blind belief without understanding, for such a belief hides Truth and builds error.” (S&H 83:9)

The events of this present time are of great significance to the Christian Science Movement in view of the fact that certain prophecies in the Bible and certain prophecies in Mrs. Eddy’s writings are becoming manifest in concrete phenomena.

The event of this day is the coming of the Son of God, visible humanly as the Son of man, in power and great glory. The event of this day is the appearing of our divinity made visible as a purer humanity. Our individual relation to this event is that we are the event itself. The individual Christ, or the reality of the individual man, is becoming appreciable to the world as our “true manhood.” In other words our divinity, which is ever at hand in power and great glory, is becoming visible in human manifestation.

The present event is none other than the great influx of the impersonal Christ or understanding taking place in the consciousness of men and women; and the definite result of this influx of the impersonal Christ or understanding, which is a living, conscious, irresistible power, is the great upheaval and disturbance which is taking place in human consciousness as the mental atmosphere of the human being is being cleared.

Let us remember that each individual human being is a mode of consciousness, or he is a mental world; and this upheaval that is taking place within himself, or within his own mental world, is the result of the conflict that is taking place between his real self, the Christ understanding, and his false educated beliefs.

It is well to remember that all the phenomena that are seen in our world today are formed within our own consciousness, and are wholly mental. All the sin, the war, and greed, and earthquakes that we seem to experience at this time, are phenomena formed by the human mind, and take place within the human consciousness of the individual.

The upheaval and disturbance of this present day is the result of mankind shaking loose and clearing away his false beliefs; it is the dissolving of the false educated beliefs of the centuries, beliefs that have constituted much of the atmosphere of mortals.

It is said that at times when some great revelation of Truth was appearing in Mrs. Eddy’s consciousness, that she heard it thunder. Then she knew that established beliefs in the human mind were being uprooted and displaced.

Our Responsibility

Our responsibility at the present time is to have the spiritual discernment of the Son of God, which is the reality of all things as being at hand, even “though seen through a glass darkly,” and not to be mesmerized with the noise and confusion of the passing away of that which is false belief only.

As Christian Scientists we understand that the fact of the oneness of God and man is demonstrated in human experience. This oneness means that God and man is one Consciousness ever conscious of Itself; it means that everything is in consciousness now, is here now. There can be no there in consciousness.

There is nothing external to consciousness to change or to deal with or to be afraid of. There is no time, no waiting for things to be better, no process by which to make them better. There is nothing going on outside of Consciousness, and all that is going on as Consciousness is Mind consciously being man and the universe.

All things which seem to be transpiring as our world or consciousness, whether at home or abroad, whether the affairs of nations, national or international, are not outside of us where they would be difficult to handle, but we (they) are all here in consciousness as Realities and they should be understood in their reality.

In Infinite Consciousness “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28)

This means that there is no Jew, no Greek, no bond, no free anywhere, because there is no there in infinite Consciousness. All these in their true depict are the sons and daughters of God, imperfectly known by us because of material sense. Mrs. Eddy says, “Material sense defines all things materially.” (S&H 208:2)

Scientific Christianity demands that we not only affirm that what we see humanly is the Reality or is the Son of God, here and now, but that we demonstrate this Truth, instead of merely believing in it; and demonstrate it to be a present fact here and now. This is our responsibility as individual Christian Scientists.

Biblical Prophecies

Many men of vision and great thinkers of this age are seeing the signs of fulfillment in the latter part of this century of certain Scriptural prophecies. One of these prophecies is recorded in the 20th chapter of Exodus. It reads as follows: “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work: But the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.”

In this prophecy, which dates with the beginning of history, man is allotted six days in which to dispel the darkened sense which he himself created when he erringly assumed his separation from God and wandered far from true Consciousness. “To labor and do all thy work,” signifies that during this period of six days man is to dispel the ignorance and the false beliefs which constitute so-called mortal mind or material sense, and by so doing he returns, or is restored, to his Father’s house or true consciousness.

Saint Peter, in his second Epistle, emphasized the fact that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years.” Therefore, inasmuch as 4000 years elapsed from the time of this prophecy at the beginning of Bible history to the advent of Jesus on earth, and nearly 2000 years since Christ Jesus delivered the great influx of spiritual light and illumination which aided mankind to work out his salvation, obviously the 6000 years or the six days spoken of in this prophecy will end with our present 20th century or with the close of the year 1999.

Then cometh the seventh or the Sabbath day, the day of rest from our labors, which is called the Millennium. Particularly during the past few years, since the coming of Christian Science, great numbers are accepting and living the teachings of Jesus and are putting into practice the good which is theirs by Divine Right. We are fast awakening to the fact that nothing has changed us from being WHAT WE ARE, Sons and Daughters of God. Is not this a time for rejoicing?

Jesus’ Prophecy Luke 21

In this present day many who have spiritual discernment are seeing and experiencing the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy regarding these latter days. Jesus prophesied these troublous times. He said, “Upon the earth there shall be distress of nations, with perplexity; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after these things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.”

It should be observed that the words “The powers of heaven shall be shaken” do not refer to real heaven, but merely to the false sense of security which human beings have built up for themselves and now find to be utterly unstable. We are learning that a material concept of things is always an insecure concept.

What is our attitude towards these latter days? Surely not one of fear, and anxiety and confusion. No. Jesus’ admonition to us was, that we ascend upon our housetop, meaning an altitude of understanding, and not come down. He said in connection with this prophecy, “In your patience possess ye your souls,” and “There shall not an hair of your head perish.”

Jesus’ promise for these troublous times was, “Then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud of great glory.” He also left for us the scientific admonition, “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads (understanding), for your redemption draweth nigh.” Yes, we have the unfailing assurance of rest and deliverance from what seems to be upheaval and disaster.

What is the son of man and what is his coming in a cloud with power and great glory? The son of man is the Son of God perceived humanly. Mrs. Eddy says, “The human manifestation of the Son of God was called the Son of man, or Mary’s son.” (Mis. 84:16)

The Son of God and the son of man are not two separate entities, but one. The Son of man is the Son of God imperfectly known, because seen through the lens of material sense. The Son of man and the Son of God is the human and the divine coincidence that was seen in the man Jesus.

What appears to us to be a human being is, in his real character, deific, and is the Son of God. And if we fully understand ourselves and others as being the Son of God, we would all be seen as having the power and great glory that Jesus had and we would demonstrate it.

Jesus asked his disciples, “But whom say ye that I, the son of man, am?” And the discerning Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

This spiritual fact has been revealed to us, and are we, at least in a measure, demonstrating that we are “now the Sons of God”? Are we demonstrating that each one of us is now the individual Christ-self, seen humanly or seen in his true humanhood?

“The coming of the Son of man in a cloud, with power and glory” refers to the demonstration of Christian Science, which demonstration is the Son of man. The coming in a cloud signifies that the demonstration is often mysterious to mortal mind and yet the power and glory of it is recognized.

Sickness and Sin Aggravated

If sickness seems to be aggravated in these days, it is because we are passing out of the hour when we shall be sick and need healing into the hour when the Son of God, the reality of all things, will so occupy consciousness that what appears to need healing will be revealed as divine ideas which always have been whole and complete.

Are we not ready, today, to leave the belief of sickness without attempting, in some way, to heal it or to destroy it? How can we heal that which is already whole, if we see it as it already is? Let us remember Jesus’ words, “I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” This means that we fulfill by seeing perfectly a Reality which as yet appears imperfectly.

If sin seems to be aggravated in these days, it is because the dream of corporeality and materiality, the dream of mistakes and frailties and imperfections and failures and the suffering of all of them, is dissolving. These are beliefs only. Because of the revelation that “now are we the Sons of God,” are we not ready to dismiss these beliefs without trying to regenerate and to destroy that which is nothing?

What if, in the dream of material sense, our “sins are as scarlet”? In reality, and that is all there ever has been to us, we were and are “white as snow.” What if, in our dream, our sins and failures and mistakes were “red like crimson”? There never was an instant of eternity when the sons and daughters of God were not as “white as wool.”

No matter what the nature of the dream or the seeming time it has continued, it is only a dream without a dreamer. The hour is passing when we desire to have the conditions of our dream fixed up and then continue our dreaming. The hour has come when we are awakening to our sense of wholeness; we are stepping out of the dream, not just fixing it up.

In this hour of the coming of the Son of man in his power and great glory, men and women, Christian Scientists, are arising as never before, recognizing their true state of Being. As the prodigal son “came to himself,” so are we coming to ourselves, finding ourselves, knowing ourselves.

The time has come when we can present ourselves to the world in the highest human manifestation of the sons and daughters of God, which will be the Son of man or our true humanhood. And our Reality, the Son of God or the individual Christ, will evidence Himself in His divine character, power, and great glory.

The dream, that which is nothing, has not changed us nor can it change us from being who we are and what we are; even the sons and daughters of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of the darkness.” (I Thes. 5:5)

Mrs. Eddy’s Prophecies

In Mrs. Eddy’s writings we find many prophecies concerning the closing years of the 20th Century. In Pulpit and Press (p. 23:18) she writes, “History shows the curious fact that the closing years of every century are years of more intense life, manifested in unrest or in aspiration; and scholars of special research, like Professor Max Muller, assert that the end of a cycle, as is the latter part of the present century, is marked by peculiar intimations of man’s immortal life.”

We hear much in these days about immortal life. Christian Scientists should intelligently reason out that as a scientific fact life is diseaseless and ageless, endless and deathless. Such statements of Truth do not just happen to be spoken; they are not of the personal mind, but they are the appearing of the Son of God, as the Son of man, in human consciousness.

Mrs. Eddy makes a remarkable prophecy concerning the church of this 20th Century. She says, “If the lives of Christian Scientists attest their fidelity to Truth, I predict that in the twentieth century every Christian church in our land, and a few in far-off lands, will approximate the understanding of Christian Science sufficiently to heal the sick in his name. Christ will give to Christianity his new name, and Christendom will be classified as Christian Scientists.” (Pul. 22:9)

This is a remarkable prediction. Some one may say, “It does not look much like it now;” but we must remember that prophecy is the foretelling of the appearance of that which is already finished and complete.

Mrs. Eddy makes another momentous prophecy, the fulfillment of which is appearing at this present time. This prophecy concerns “The New Woman.” (Pul. 81:9)

Before Jesus’ time women were considered of lower rank and of lesser intelligence than men. All Patriarchs and prophets were seers and were supposed to attain much wisdom, and this wisdom was recognized as the masculine element in consciousness. Then according to prophecy there appeared a woman, the virgin Mary, who brought to mankind that which was even greater than wisdom, or the masculine element. She brought to mankind “The Light of the World” illustrating the feminine element in consciousness, which is Love.

The world calls this present time “Woman’s Day.” Since the Christian era began woman has steadily risen to the heights where she now stands. Today woman compels the attention of the world, for she has reached the side of man in nearly every endeavor and is destined to fully succeed in this century.

Before the close of these six days in which we are to labor and do all our work, we shall see woman standing beside man, his right equal, for so she was created.

But in Mrs. Eddy’s prophecy of women, “Woman’s Day” typifies the day of the fullness of Love. Mrs. Eddy is not referring to a corporeal woman or female gender. Woman typifies the female element in consciousness, the female of God’s creating, the fullness of Love. The female element in consciousness is that irresistible Love which ends wars, cancels all misunderstanding, transcends all fears and limitations, scales the heights, and reaches the mount of God who is Love itself.

“Woman’s Day” typifies a state of consciousness wherein Life and Love, man and woman, are seen as one being, not two; and a new state of living begins. Mrs. Eddy has predicted that in this present time there will be marked appearing of the feminine characteristics of thought, the Love characteristic of thought which gave birth to Jesus, and later to the revelation of Christian Science.

Love, or the feminine element in consciousness, is higher than the masculine element and so encompasses the masculine as illustrated by Mary and Jesus. The virgin Mary (woman) gave birth to Jesus (man). This is the day when Love, the feminine element, will encompass the masculine, and they will be one, humanly speaking. The woman thought will rise to see herself as man, the full representation of God, and there will be only that one perfect.

When this misconception of male and female first appeared in man’s thought, it was this belief that the masculine and feminine elements of consciousness were two separate states, instead of a unit wherein and whereof Life and Love combine to operate as one. The male and female of God’s creating are never to be thought of as though they were two entities, distinct one from the other, but must always be seen as one inseparable Being.

This is the day when the female characteristics of thought will understand and be her individual Christ-self, and she will love all men and women and things as her individual Christ-self. This state of thought is purely unselfish and is the Love that “thinketh no evil.”

That old saying, “only that day dawns to which we are awake,” is true, and at this present time we need to be very much awake and alert to what is actually transpiring in our mental world. He that hath eyes, that is, spiritual discernment, sees the mist of material beliefs dissolving, and the Kingdom of Heaven comes on earth.